(The Hosting News) – Tech giants such as Google and Facebook are increasing efforts to control more of the internet’s “backbone,” causing tension with the telecom companies that run the Web, states a report from The Wall Street Journal.

These companies have “ramped up their investment in Internet infrastructure” over the last year by striking long-term agreements to lease dark fibers, building their own networking hardware, and funding underground cables.

The goal of tech companies is to reduce costs by improving the performance of their internet services and have enough capacity to support growing traffic from online video, photos, and games, continues The Wall Street Journal’s report.

Google alone controls more than 100,000 miles of private fiber-optic cables around the world, a move that took years to accomplish, states a person familiar with its assets.

Sprint Corp.’s network only covers less than 40,000 miles in the U.S.

In June, Facebook started using dark fiber cables in Europe to extend its network and connect to its new data center in Sweden.

Amazon and Microsoft are heavily investing in their network infrastructure due to their growing cloud-computing business.

In recent years, Google and Facebook have invested in new Asian submarine cables as well.

“If you’ve got enough money and enough bandwidth requirements, at some point it makes sense just to build it,” stated Michael Murphy, president of NEF Inc.